Two ancient stones engraved with runes in the Danish town of Jelling tell the story of the Viking king who helped shape Denmark, and inspired the name of the Bluetooth technology we use today to connect devices.
If you have ever used a wireless connection to connect your phone to headphones or a computer, you are probably already familiar with the name “Bluetooth.” However, this technology, despite its newness, is based in its name on a story dating back more than a thousand years, specifically to a Viking king whose legacy is still alive in the small Danish town of Jelling, which is located about 250 kilometers west of Copenhagen.
In this town, two ancient stones tell the story of this king and his reign, and provide the first indication of how his unusual nickname became the name of one of the most famous technologies in use in the world.
The Viking King known as "Bluetooth"
King Harald Gormsson, who ruled Denmark in the 10th century AD, had the Old Norse nickname “Bluetooth.” This nickname was first recorded 150 years after his death and is believed to have been a reference to a “blue” or rotten tooth.
One of Harald's most notable and influential achievements was the conversion of Denmark to Christianity, which is believed to have occurred around 965 AD. The largest of the two Jelling stones, which Harald commissioned to be erected, states that he "subjected to himself all Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christians", and also bears one of the oldest known images of Christ in Scandinavia.
Until that time, large areas of northern Europe had been divided into smaller territories ruled by local chiefs, and Christianity provided Harald with a means of consolidating power, strengthening Denmark's connections to Christian Europe, and helping to unify the nation that was taking shape.
“It's a state-building process in Denmark 200 years after the Viking Age, and the Nordics had a fairly steep learning curve,” says Adam Backe, curator at the Jelling Kings Experience Center and Museum. “They became well-versed in different forms of politics in Europe, in understanding what Christianity could offer them, and in the centralization of power within the state.”
Why is Yiling important?
Harald's story is embodied in the landmarks of Jelling. His father, Gorm, commissioned the erection of the two smallest and oldest stones in Jelling, in memory of his wife, Thera, and this stone is believed to contain the first written use of the name "Denmark" within the country.
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“We call it the Danish birth certificate,” says Anne Havgaard Mikkelsen, a resident of nearby Wiele, which is why Jaling is her birthplace.
Although its population today is only 4,000, it was the seat of power during the reign of Harald Bluetooth, and was originally a pagan burial site. During Harald's reign, Jiling was transformed into a place where pagan and Christian traditions intertwined.
Today, white columns mark the path of the wooden wall that surrounded the landmarks of the town of Yiling, while hundreds of markers demarcate the boundaries of a massive ship-shaped plan, which may have been dedicated to the wife Thera.
The scene is completed by two burial mounds and a Christian church, elements that Buck says relate less to “mighty Viking warriors, Thor and Odin,” and more to “politics and transformation, the transition from something older to something new.”
In 1994, the Jiling hills, two ancient stones and the church became the first Danish site to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and at the nearby Jiling Kings Visitor Centre, interactive exhibits show the conversion from Viking beliefs to Christianity, while the stones - Denmark's baptism stone and birth certificate - are preserved behind glass.
From the Viking King to Bluetooth
More than a thousand years later, Harald's reputation as a unifier would give his name an unexpected second life.
In the late 1990s, engineers from companies including Toshiba, IBM, Nokia, Intel, and Ericsson were developing a new technology that could link devices across different brands, and they needed a code name.
Jim Kardash, an American engineer at Intel, was collaborating with Swedish engineers when the conversation came up about Vikings, and the matter piqued his curiosity, so he immersed himself in reading a book about the history (on display at the Jelling Kings Center), and became an admirer of the king who united Denmark and Norway, just as this new technology could unify different devices.
The code name was leaked before the official press release was prepared, and the rest of the story became part of technology history.
“The PR people were disgusted by the name because they associated the word ‘Bluetooth’ with poor dental hygiene,” Buck says. “They were very concerned about that, and they had all kinds of different names that were better at explaining what the product was, but they were much more boring. Bluetooth was a big hit because it was a very recognizable name.”
